Leprechauns

Leprechaun= sprite, small fairies - lutin

http://www.yourirish.com/folklore/the-leprechauns/

1. According to the book "The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures," by John and Caitlin Matthews, the leprechaun legend can be traced back to eighth-century tales of water spirits called "luchorpán," meaning small body. The legend eventually evolved into a mischievous household fairy said to haunt cellars and drink heavily.

2. Leprechauns are shoemakers. Some researches claim that the word leprechaun came from the Irish 'leath bhrogan,' meaning shoemaker, said to be the sprites' main vocation.

3. If you happen to come across a leprechaun, be sure to hold on to him.  According to Irish legends, people lucky enough to capture a leprechaun can barter (troquer) his freedom for three wishes. But dealing with a leprechaun can be a tricky proposition.

4. A leprechaun is a trickster figure (arnaqueur) who cannot be trusted. Folklorist Carol Rose offers a typical tale of leprechaun trickery in her encyclopedia "Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins," it concerns "a man who managed to get a leprechaun to show him the bush in the field where his treasure was located. Having no spade [shovel] (pelle), the man marked the tree with one of his red garters, then kindly released the sprite and went for a spade. Returning almost instantly he found that every one of the numerous trees in the field sported a red garter!" (jarretière)

5. Like most fairies, leprechauns have a distinctive sound associated with them. While the Irish banshee (mythologie gaélique : créature) can be identified by a mournful wail (gémissement), leprechauns are recognized by the tap-tap-tapping of a tiny cobbler (cordonnier) hammer, driving nails into shoes, that announces they are near.

6. Leprechauns are always male. In the 1825 book "Fairy Legends" noted that  "Leprechauns seem to be entirely male and solitary. They are often described as bearded old men dressed in green and wearing buckled shoes (chaussure en forme de boucle). Sometimes they wear a pointed cap or hat and may smoke a pipe.

7. Leprechauns weren't always dressed in green. Early tales of the creatures reported red clothing.

8.  In his collection of Irish fairy and folk tales, W.B. Yeats offered an 18th-century poem by William Allingham titled "The Lepracaun; Or, Fairy Shoemaker." It describes the tapping sound of the sprite:

"Lay your ear close to the hill.
Do you not catch the tiny clamour,
Busy click of an elfin hammer,
Voice of the Lepracaun singing shrill
As he merrily plies his trade?"

9. One of the most recognizable leprechauns in popular culture is Lucky the Leprechaun, the mascot of the General Mills breakfast cereal Lucky Charms. On the other end of the pop culture spectrum, you have the homicidal Lubdan from the "Leprechaun" horror/comedy film series.

10. Leprechauns are a morality tale figure. The legend warns against greed and the folly of trying to get rich quick.

Text from: http://www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/-top-ten-facts-about-leprechauns-and-where-the-legends-really-came-from-212728761-237598771.html

"Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6yUY7M9yfw

When your day is long
And the night, the night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough
Of this life, well hang on

Don't let yourself go
'Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone (Hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go (Hold on)
If you think you've had too much
Of this life, well hang on

Everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts
Don't throw your hand, oh no

Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone
No, no, no, you are not alone

If you're on your own in this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on

Well, everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody cries
Everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes

So hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts

Let's Wipe the Slate Clean

Let's forget about it, let's move on, let's draw a line under it - Tournons la page

1. Years ago, people could go into a grocers or pub etc and buy things "on account".  A record of transactions and money owed was written on a slate.  At that time, the debt was to be cleared on payday and it was always a great day when the debt was paid and the slate wiped clean.  Although slate was eventually replaced by paper or electronic record, the term ‘wiping the slate clean’ still remains in usage in this context.  

2. During Victorian times, young schoolchildren used to write on slate boards made from a piece of quarry slate set in a wooden frame.  A pencil, also made of slate was used to write the letters.  The advantage of slates over paper was that they could be wiped clean and used again and again - very environmentally friendly!  Children had to bring a dampened cloth or sponge to school so that they could wipe their slates clean at the end of the lesson and start again but often they would use their own spit and the cuff of their sleeve! 

3. The third explanation for the expression ‘to wipe the slate clean’ is a nautical one.  The course steered and distances covered by a ship were recorded during each watch on a slate and after they were entered into the official log at the end of a watch, the slate carrying the ongoing recordings was wiped clean ready for the next watch to keep a fresh record.

One of the first social network...

Found somewhere in Brussel...

Avicii - Hey Brother

"Brother / Sister"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cp6mKbRTQY


 "There's an endless road to rediscover" to go back and realize that the end isn't the end but a beginning.

Hey brother, there’s an endless road to re-discover.
Hey sister, know the water's sweet but blood is thicker.
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,
There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do.

Hey brother, do you still believe in one another?
Hey sister, do you still believe in love, I wonder?
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,
There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do.

What if I'm far from home?
Oh, brother I will hear you call.
What if I lose it all?
Oh, sister I will help you out!
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,
There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do.

Hey brother, there’s an endless road to re-discover.
Hey sister, do you still believe in love, I wonder?
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,
There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do.

What if I'm far from home?
Oh, brother I will hear you call.
What if I lose it all?
Oh, sister I will help you out!
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,
There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do.

To sulk

To be sullenly aloof or withdrawn, as in silent resentment or protest.- ruminer, broyer du noir
be silent, morose, and bad-tempered out of annoyance or disappointment. - bouder

• he was sulking over the break-up of his band
• He's like a spoilt child, sulking in the corner
• He's in a sulk because he lost the game; he's got the sulks

A sulker is a person who sulks

synonyms: mope, brood, pout, be sullen, have a long face, be in a bad mood, be put out, be out of sorts, be out of humour, be grumpy, be despondent, be moody, be resentful, pine, harbour a grudge, eat one's heart out, moon about/around

To handle with kid gloves

Handle a situation, or a person or an object, delicately and gingerly.- faire dans la dentelle, ménager quelqu'un ou quelque chose

• During the World Cup 2014, Germany didn't handle Brazil with kid gloves, to say the least...

Origin:

Kid gloves are gloves made from the skin of a young goat. In fact, when they were first fashioned in the 18th century they were more often made from lambskin, as that was easier to come by. They were clearly not intended for use when you were pruning the hedge and wearing kid gloves was the sartorial equivalent of pale white skin, that is, it indicated that the wearer was rich enough to indulge in a life of genteel indoor idleness.
It was only when the expression (and presumably also, the gloves) crossed the Atlantic that the negative connotations were lost and 'handling (or treating) with kid gloves' began to be used as we use it today, that is with the meaning 'delicately; carefully'.

To be soaked to the skin

to be extremely wet, wet clear through one's clothing to the skin. - trempé comme une soupe

• I forgot my umbrella and got soaked to the skin when I had to go out this afternoon.
• I was caught in the rain and got soaked to the skin. oh, come in and dry off! You must be soaked to the skin.

To pitch a tent

to erect a tent at a campsite. - monter une tente

• The campers pitched their tent in a clearing in the woods. 
• I pitched my tent next to a large oak tree.

Hiccough

Hiccough

1.an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm and respiratory organs, with a sudden closure of the glottis and a characteristic gulping sound.
"then she got hiccups"

2.a temporary or minor problem or setback.
"just a little hiccup in our usual wonderful service" a hitch, a snag
un contretemps

As alike as two peas in a pod

Origin: This simile derives, of course, from the fact that two peas from the same pod are virtually indistinguishable. 

very similar two of a kind in French: être comme les deux doigts de la main 

• We were two peas in a pod – we liked all the same things, and we did everything together.

Word up (1)

thin skinned = over sensitive - qui prend la mouche, à sensibilité à fleur de peau 

behind the times = old fashioned - en retard sur son temps

to purr - cat: make vibrating sound - ronronner

to hand [sth] in vtr phrasal = to submit - rendre ou plus soutenu : remettre, remettre sa démission

• The students handed in their assignments to the teacher.

hand [sth] out, hand out [sth] vtr phrasal = distribute - distribuer

• Volunteers in Haiti are handing out food and water to earthquake victims.

flock (sheep, goats)  - troupeau 
uncalled-for, uncalled for = unfair, unjust - injustifié 

• Her last comment was uncalled-for so he stormed out of the house.

see eye to eye
if two people see eye to eye, they agree with each other (often negative; often + with ) 

• He's asked for a transfer because he doesn't see eye to eye with the new manager. (often + on ) 
• We see eye to eye on most important issues.
• My father and I see eye to eye on most things.
• We don't see eye to eye on a lot of things.

Downtrodden

abused or oppressed by people in power
without hope because of being treated badly by powerful people, governments, etc.- opprimé

• You've already done your part for the oppressed and downtrodden demons of the world.
• In the fight for change, the most oppressed and downtrodden come to the forefront.
• The downtrodden masses

Hot air

hot air  (informal)

if something that someone says is just hot air, it is not sincere and will have no practical results 

• Their promises turned out to be just so much hot air. (c'est du vent)

To cotton on

To cotton on: to get to know or understand something.

Origin 
(from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cotton-on.html)

The phrase 'cotton on to', with the above meaning, appears to be limited in usage to the UK and other countries that were previously part of the British Empire, notably Australia and New Zealand. In the USA, especially in the southern states, 'cotton to' is used, with the slightly modified meaning of 'take a liking to'.

As early as 1648, in a pamphlet titled Mercurius Elencticus, mocking the English parliament, the royalist soldier and poet Sir George Wharton used 'cotton', or as it was spelled then 'cotten', as a verb meaning 'to make friendly advances'. 'Cotten up to' and 'cotten to' were both used to mean 'become friendly with'. Whether this was as a reference to the rather annoying predisposition of moist raw cotton to stick to things or whether it alluded to moving of cotton garments closer together during a romantic advance isn't clear. John Camden Hotten, in his Slang Dictionary, 1869, opted for the former derivation:

Cotton, to like, adhere to, or agree with any person; "to COTTON on to a man," to attach yourself to him, or fancy him, literally, to stick to him as cotton would.

Green with envy

Green with envy = jaloux comme un pou

In many Western cultures the feelings of envy or jealousy are commonly associated with the color green. A greenish facial tint has long been associated with illness, as suggested by the phrase "green around the gills. (avoir mauvaise mine)" As a person who is very envious is considered by many folks to be unwell, these people have been described as "green (or sick) with envy." 

Long before Shakespeare connected green with jealousy, the color was more commonly used to describe illness. The early Greeks interchanged "green" and "pale" to mean sickly. The Greeks thought that when you were ill or jealous, the body produced too much bile, giving the skin a green tint.

Double Dutch

Double Dutch (slang) = charabia

Witty retort

Witty retort, clever comebacks: répartie intelligente

Witty 

1. Possessing or demonstrating wit in speech or writing; very clever and humorous.
2. Characterized by or having the nature of wit; funny or jocular: a witty saying.
3. Quick to discern and express amusing insights or relationships.
4. Entertainingly and strikingly clever or original in concept, design, or performance: a witty sculpture; witty choreography.

Tapping into the Positive Side of Conflict

Tapping into the Positive Side of Conflict
by Diane C. Decker
http://qualitytransitions.com/tapping-positive-side-conflict/
(American English)

Tap into the positive side of conflict. Do any of these three examples of brewing conflict sound familiar? 1) You share your experiences and perspectives on an issue with a co-worker, and you are dismissed, with the statement that what you are saying doesn’t make sense or apply. 2) You send an email requesting information to complete a project deadline, and the person never responds. 3) Even when you say you are busy, a co-worker stays in your work area to chat about personal topics or complain about your boss and the company.

Conflict is inevitable. Often the source of the conflict is because of our differences. There are countless ways that people are different, including backgrounds, preferences, opinions, and personalities. Most of us think of conflict in negative ways. Yet, when we use positive communication techniques to address conflicts, we can reap the benefits. The potential benefits include improved relationships, less stress, more creativity, higher productivity, and better results. 

Groundhog Day

A comedy based on an humoristic metaphor that tells how we can be prisoner of the googles through which we look at our surrounding and events in our life, repeating the same errors again and again...

The film, Groundhog Day, is based on a popular US legend concerning the groundhog, an animal that hibernates. The legend is that, when the groundhog comes out of his den for the first time, at the end of winter, if he does not see his shadow there will be an early spring, if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter. Traditionally, Groundhog Day is 2nd February and a ceremony is held to determine whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow. It is necessary to know that story in order to understand the concept of the film.

Plot ( source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film) American English)

Self-centered TV meteorologist Phil Connors (Murray) is reluctantly sent to cover a story about a weather forecasting "rat" (as he calls it). This is his fourth year on the story, and he makes no effort to hide his frustration. On awaking the 'following' day he discovers that it's Groundhog Day again, and again, and again. First he uses this to his advantage, then comes the realisation that he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place, seeing the same people do the same thing EVERY day.

Genre:Comedy/Fantasy
Director:Harold Ramis
Cast:Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott

To prank ;=)

Try to play the "google gravity" prank on someone,  it works :=)
www.mrdoob.com/projects/chromeexperiments/google_gravity/


a prank - une farce
A prank is a michievous trick, usually played by children on adults

to play a prank on someone
- jouer des tours à quelqu'un, faire une farce

It takes two to tangle

a variation: "It takes two to tango" - il faut être deux pour....
is a standard expression that is typically used in cases of adultery or accusations of adultery, where one party accuses the other of seduction. It really means that both parties are equally responsible for their actions.

Derivative meaning:
It means also that if you want to reach an agreement between two parties, both sides need to be willing to do so. 
Each has to be open for a compromise, 'give and take' a bit, otherwise you end up stale-mate (dans une impasse), without a proper outcome. 

The tango image is a good one, no matter how good one partner is, if the other is a klutz (slang: empoté), it won't be much of a tango.

A 1952 song popularized the phrase “it takes two to tango”; and it was quickly applied to everything that required two parties, from romance to fighting.

“It takes two to tangle” will seem the normal phrase to some people, a clever variation to a few, and an embarrassing mistake to many people you might want to impress...

The Public Library. A Photographic Essay

The Public Library
A Photographic Essay 
Dawson, Robert

For nearly twenty years, Robert Dawson photographed public libraries across the United States. From this documentary work, he issued a book, The Public Library: A Photographic Essay (Princeton Architectural Press) who just got out in time for National Library Week, held from April 13 to 19 by the American Library Association.



From Princeton Architectural Press:

Many of us have vivid recollections of childhood visits to a public library: the unmistakable musty scent, the excitement of checking out a stack of newly discovered books. Today, the more than 17,000 libraries in America also function as de facto community centers offering free access to the internet, job-hunting assistance, or a warm place to take shelter. And yet, across the country, cities large and small are closing public libraries or curtailing their hours of operation. Over the last eighteen years, photographer Robert Dawson has crisscrossed the country documenting hundreds of these endangered institutions. The Public Library presents a wide selection of Dawson's photographs, from the majestic reading room at the New York Public Library to Allensworth, California's one-room Tulare County Free Library built by former slaves. Accompanying Dawson's revealing photographs are essays, letters, and poetry by some of America's most celebrated writers. A foreword by Bill Moyers and an afterword by Ann Patchett bookend this important survey of a treasured American institution.


https://issuu.com/papress/docs/public_library/22?e=1189773/6710750

The Public Library
A Photographic Essay
Dawson, Robert

ISBN 9781616892173
Publication date 03/15/2014
8 x 9 inches (20.3 x 22.9 cm), Hardcover
192 pages, 100 color illustrations, 75 b/w illustrations
Rights: World; 

Living with autism with Professor Uta Frith

A documentary worth seeing!

A very moving documentary narrated by a wonderful, fascinating and passionate woman, Professor Uta Frith, a developmental psychologist who has dedicated the rest of her career trying to unravel the mystery of the autistic mind.

Uta Frith ends the documentary by this astonishing revelation:

"I’ve often imagine myself being a bit of autistic. I’m certainly obsessively focused on my work, I’m very analytical and detached and I certainly have said things that have hurt people without realizing it... I’m generally baffled by the complexity of social relationships"


To all of us who have ever hurt someone without wanting it, don't miss the end of the documentary!

When pioneering developmental psychologist Professor Uta Frith started her training back in the 1960s, she met a group of beautiful, bright-eyed young children who seemed completely detached from the rest of the world.

In this film, Uta shows how people with autism perceive the world and interact with their surroundings, and how, for them, another kind of reality exists. She meets people with autism who have extraordinary talents, and explains why they often fail to understand jokes. She also explores whether many of us could be just a little bit autistic.

These fascinating people show us that another kind of reality exists and it’s full of immense challenges and mysteries but also joy. By understanding their world, we can learn more about our world.

Autism takes on many forms and exists on a wide spectrum from mild to severe. It was and still is characterized by a difficulty these people have to communicating and interacting with others and by their tendency to repeat activities over and over again. For them, it’s challenging to make effort with people, to be engaged with people.

Most of us instinctively know that other people have their separate believes, wishes and intentions of their own and it turns out that it is the key to understanding why other people are doing what they are doing. It’s our extra-social sense. What psychologist have learned over the last 50 years, is that not having that kind of social navigation system is what set autistic apart from the rest of us. 

The experiment of the triangles story shows us how interpretation are crucial in social interactions. 

The case of Sarah shows us how complex autism can be. She is a very clever woman who consciously studies and imitates the way people respond to each other in social situations and that very faculty enables her to effectively mask her autism when she is in public. 

Sarah and Key, also autistic, found each other on the Internet. They get on really well , just the two of them. They are committed to total honesty in their constant reflection and analysis; 

They say: "You are my required amount of social contact. I’m your 5 ml tea spoon of social contact a day. I don’t miss people. We are like peas in a pod"

They do show us that autistic people can have meaningful interactions. 

Many people with autism have talent that appears to be at odds with the rest of their abilities. Autistic people have a different approach, cutting straight to the chase. Normal children will copy each action, even silly action because they want to do everything the adult does, they are not just learning about how this object behaves but they are also learning how to be social. Autistic people don’t want to copy the extra unnecessary things. They also see details that escape the rest of us.

You can measure autistic traits just like any other metric with a rule, on one end of the spectrum you have people with no autistic traits at all and on the other end you have people with all autistic traits. On the average, most of the people are scoring right in the middle, very few people have no autistic traits and very few people are diagnosed at the maximum. There is a natural selection to have an average number of autistic traits.

Some people are developing a secondary depression because they have got a higher number of autistic traits while other people are doing just fine irrespective of their score. They are diagnosed when there is a clear clinical need which lead to something like a grey area, it’s all about clinical judgment.

The autistic brain may be wired differently and there may be a genetic origin to this but we don’t know the detail yet.

You are a brick!

Old fashion way to say that you are very helpful, obliging (slang)

Showing a cheerful willingness to do favors for others

Why the toast always lands butter side down?

The science of Murphy's law
by Richard Robinson

Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong... When you most want something, chances are that you will spoil your chance to succeed...

Start looking for Murphy's Law, and you'll find it everywhere. 

Buses go round in threes, the queue you join always goes slowest, when your hands are full your nose starts to itch, you think of several important things to remember just as you are falling asleep....

Can there ever be a rational explanation?



The answers turn out to be one part scientific fact to three parts psychology.

Excerpt:

The length of a minute depends on which side of the bathroom door you are on.

Never let a computer know you are in a hurry.

Short cuts are often the longest route.

Why is the tune you hate most, the one you can't get out of your head?

The noodle effect: When you finally ask the supermarket assistant where the noodles are, they're right beside you.

The best way to be late is to give yourself plenty of time.

Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one in front.

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will always regret.

The place you want to visit is just over the edge of the road map.

Lame duck

A person or thing that isn't properly able to function, especially one that was previously proficient.

Origin

The description of 'lame duck' is often applied to politicians who are known to be in their final term of office, when colleagues and electors look toward a successor. It is also sometimes used to describe office-holders who have lost an election but have not yet left office.

In recent years (as of 2006) both George W. Bush and Tony Blair, unable to see out further electoral victories, have been faced with such mutterings, for example:

In May 2006, The Washington Post ran an article titled 'Bush's Political Capital Spent', including the opinion:
"Such weakness has unleashed the first mutterings of those dreaded second-term words, 'lame duck'."

Who's the boss...

Horizon: Is seeing believing?

Horizon explores the strange and wonderful world of illusions - and reveals the tricks they play on our senses and why they fool us.

We show how easy it is to trick your sense of taste by changing the colours of food and drink, explain how what you see can change what you hear, and see just how unreliable our sense of colour can be.

• Neuroscientist Dr Beau Lotto and volunteer Kim Read.

  
  The chair illusion known as the Beuchet Stuhl chair shows us how easily our sense of vision can be fooled.

But all this trickery has a serious purpose. It's helping scientists to create a new understanding of how our senses work - not as individual senses, but connected together.

It holds the intriguing possibility that one sense could be mapped into another. This is what happened to Daniel Kish, who lost his sight as a child. He is now able to create a vision of the world by clicking his tongue which allows him to echolocate like a bat.

And in a series of MRI scans, scientists are now looking to find out if Daniel's brain may have actually rewired itself enabling him to use sound to create a visual image of the world.

The full documentary is available here:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18zpjf_horizon-2010-is-seeing-believing-hdtv_shortfilms

Warning: ads pops up during the documentary

To cut to the chase

To cut to the chase

to focus on what is important; to abandon the preliminaries and deal with the major points.

• All right, let's stop the idle chatter and cut to the chase.- aller droit au but
• After a few introductory comments, we cut to the chase and began negotiating.

Etymology: based on the idea that, when describing a movie, the writer can cut (interrupt) the story and explain the exciting parts, which usually involve a chase

To get in someone's hair

To get someone out of one's hair
to cause someone to stop annoying oneself.

• What do I have to do to get this guy out of my hair.

to stop annoying someone.

• Will you get out of my hair! You are a real pain!

Peeve

Peeve (informal, slang)

To cause to be annoyed or resentful, to irritate; vex; annoy, something that irritates; vexation
1. A vexation; a grievance. 

2. A resentful mood:

• To be in a peeve about the delays.
• it was a pet peeve of his- bête noire
• Seeing signs spelt incorrectly is a pet peeve of mine.

Optimist!

To go bananas

This expression has several different meanings. 

When someone goes bananas about/over something, he/she becomes very enthusiastic about it. 
The expression is considered slang and is generally used in informal contexts. 

Here are a few examples:

• The students went bananas when they heard that Mani was going to address them.
• We all went bananas when we saw Steffi Graf walk into the gym.
• The children went bananas when they saw all the icecream.

To go bananas can also mean to drive someone crazy or mad. 
When used in this sense, "to go bananas," means the same thing as "to go nuts" and "to go crazy". 

For example,

• The constant questions made him go bananas.
• Ana thought she would go bananas sitting all alone at home.
• Being in the company of her son was driving Mala bananas.

"Cool bananas" is an expression, which is frequently used in American English as an exclamation. It is often used to mean "wow". Here are a few examples.

• Satish got an A in the exam. Cool bananas!
• You've got a new bike? Cool bananas!
• Cool bananas man! That is really wonderful news.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Difficult situations inspire ingenious solutions!

Lucky charm

Clover, trefoil: plant

Shamrock : Irish emblem

Clubs: cards

• He needed the Queen of clubs for a royal flush.

It's no use crying over spilt milk

It's no use crying over spilt milk or  Don't cry over spilt milk.
Prov. Do not be upset about making a mistake, since you cannot change that now. 

• I know you don't like your new haircut, but you can't change it now. It's no use crying over spilt milk. 
• OK, so you broke the drill I lent you. Don't cry over spilt milk.

Grime

Grime: 
Syn: dirt, grunge, filth, muck - saleté

Out of a clear blue sky

To come out of a clear blue sky or come out of the blue
suddenly; all of sudden; without warning. 

• Then, out of a clear blue sky, he told me he was leaving
• My sister Mary appeared on my doorstep out of the blue, after years with no word from her

What a tangled web we weave!

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” is a quotation by Sir Walter Scott

We also talk about a 'web of lies"

It means that when you tell lies or act in a dishonest way you create problems and complications which you cannot control.
When someone tries to deceive another person, by lying and making up stories, he or she will make a mess of the deception.

If you tell a lie, then you will have to make up more lies to support the first lie, and then even more lies to support the other lies, and in the end you have a mess.

Idioms around "tea"

British people like tea so much...

I wouldn't do it for all the tea in China

In the same idea:

• there is no way you would ever do it
• You couldn't pay me to do it/that.
• I wouldn't touch that with a 10-foot pole. (or whatever length you want)
• I wouldn't do it for all the money in the world. (or any large quantity of something valuable) - pour tout l'or du monde

For further explanations on the BBC learning service:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/the_teacher/tea.mp4

"BBC" - Horizon 2014 The Power of the Placebo

Placebo or dummy pills

n. pl. pla·ce·bos or pla·ce·boes

1. A substance containing no medication and prescribed or given to reinforce a patient's expectation to get well.

2. An inactive substance or preparation used as a control in an experiment or test to determine the effectiveness of a medicinal drug.

"BBC" - Horizon 2014 The Power of the Placebo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKG1lgI4zIk

They are the miracle pills that shouldn't really work at all. Placebos come in all shapes and sizes, but they contain no active ingredient. Now they are being shown to help treat pain, depression and even alleviate some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Horizon explores why they work, and how we could all benefit from the hidden power of the placebo.

The latest research started to show why the placebo do work and how you can make the most of them. In an experiment, cyclists were given two types of pills thinking that they would have an effect on their performances. In fact, both pills were filled with corn flour. Surprisingly enough, half of the riders were quicker with the corn flour. Why that’s happening, is still an open question.

On the other hand, Dr David Kallmes noticed that there were some reasons to suspect that there were numerous factors at play in the apparent effectiveness of the cement he was using to treat back pain. So he decided to put its established procedure to the test. He designed a trial in which some patients will be given the real procedure and some will be given a placebo. But in this case the placebo couldn’t be a dummy pill. It would have to be a fake operation. They really simulated the procedure for the patient. Within a week of the injection one patient with a broken vertebra was able to play golf again. There was no statistically significant difference in degree of pain relief between the patients who underwent vertebroplasty or placebo. A pretend procedure can be as effective as a vertebroplasty.

Around the world, scientists are investigating how a placebo works, what’s happening inside your body and brain. It has all to do with a neurotransmitter called PGE2. It’s a real neurobiological effect. By scanning the brain of people who have experienced a placebo effect, it has revealed clues about how a placebo effect works. The placebo effect is tapping into the pain control circuitry to release the natural pain killers in our brain like morphins. And this is not just pain killers that placebo can activate. Our brain is capable of producing complex chemicals that we need. Placeboes work by tapping into our chemical systems, our natural pharmacy that our body has evolved. In the case of Parkinson’s disease, the placebo effect can release dopamine just like the real drug. But how much are our expectations capable of. Placebo can alleviate conditions from depression, insomnia, nausea, to attention deficit disorder.

And because, it’s all about your expectations, even the size and shape of a pill can make the difference to how well it works: capsules are more effective than tablets, large capsules are better than smaller ones, expensive medications are more effective than cheap medications, colors make the difference, red capsule is more effective to treating pain, blue capsule is more effective to treating anxiety. There are clear limits to what placebo can do, it won’t treat cancer but in the area where it is effective, scientist are wondering how to make the most of them.

But do we really need to be duped for the placebo to work?  A professor from Harvard put this hypothesis to the test and revealed that 62% of the patients report improvement from a pill they knew was inactive. Understanding this phenomena is the key to unlock our body potential to heal itself. The relationship between the doctor and the patient is also significant and has been reported to optimize the placebo effect.

It seems that kindness can make the difference!

To bully